China's Internet regulator has cracked down on two of China's popular platforms for sharing short videos, Kuaishou and Huoshan, after they were found to be sharing harmful and vulgar content, reports People's Daily.

The two services have recently been widely criticized for promoting videos of pregnant teenagers and teen mothers. These teen mothers, some as young as 13 years old, were heavily promoting their videos on the platforms in an effort to increase their follower numbers. As the popularity of the videos increased, the platforms often featured them in their lists of recommended videos.

A screenshot from an online video of a teen mother with her baby. [File photo: cctv.com]

On Wednesday the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered Kuaishou and Huoshan to crack down on this type of harmful and vulgar content. The next day, the two apps were removed from Android app stores and updates are no longer available for the Apple iOS versions.

The People's Daily report says that by allowing underage livestream hosts to publish harmful and vulgar content, the platforms are acting against the interests of public morality, promoting inappropriate lifestyles to young people, and polluting the online environment.

Icons of video apps Huoshan and Kuaishou on a mobile phone screen. [Photo: China Plus]

Both Kuaishou and Huoshan have made public apologies and promised to overhaul their services. This will include removing vulgar, pornographic, or violent content, blacklisting publishers of inappropriate content, and prohibiting users under the age of 18 to register as a livestream host.

Kuaishou has 120 million daily active users and Huoshan has 53 million, according to figures from mobile app market analysts QuestMobile.